My Father's Secreats
by lifesaver55
Summary: Danny and Ed help an old friends daughter find out what her father was doing with a million in cash and lots of discrimanating papers
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I own Nothing  
  
My Father's Secrets  
  
Chapter One: Lost Soul  
  
Growing up in Las Vegas you learn at a young age that things arn't always what they seem and no matter what the odds, winning was impossible. Seajae Riely knew by experance. Her mother had lost everything and then lost her life. At the tender age of thirteen she was thrown into her father's home and his life. Today she would find out things that she needed to know. Did she want to know? Well that was something all together different.  
  
The first thirteen years of her life were a blur. Living on the street one minute and a four star hotel the next. He mom lost more then she won and by the time she was five her mother had married three times and she'd lived with several other men. By the time Seajae moved in with her father she had a fear of the male gender so bad that her father couldn't even walk in the room without her cringing with fear.  
  
That was fifteen years ago. Now her father was dead too. But for all of those fifteen years Alan Riely showed her how to love and more importantly how to trust. Now standing in the lobby of one of Las Vegas's most prestiegest casino's she felt a little intimitated. Fresh off the front line of a war no one knew about or cared about she came home to a family in turmoile. Her father on his death bed and his wife gone missing Seajae turned to the one person her father had told her she could trust with anything.  
  
"Welcome to the Montecito." A perky blond smiled from the front desk.  
  
"Seajae Riely to see Ed DeLine." The woman looked at her like she just asked to see the President.  
  
"Is he expecting you?" The woman's sticky sweet voice turned icy.  
  
"No but then it would't be a surprise if he did now would it."  
  
"Mr. DeLine doesn't like surprises." A man in his late twenties, early thirties stepped behind her and caught her off gaurd. It had been awhile since anyone had done that. Seajae turned to look at the man. If she was looking for the perfect man the one standing in front of her would come close. His peircing eyes and unruly hair gave him a sexyness Seajae knew he used to get his way.  
  
"I'm sure he will like this one."  
  
"And you said you name was?"  
  
"Riely. Seajae Riely." Reconision flicked in the man's eyes.  
  
"Your dad was Alan Riely."  
  
"You knew him?"  
  
"Yeah. He was my CO for five years. You used come to the base....." The man looked at the woman and remebered a young girl. He had been young then too. Young enough to think that nothing could touch him.  
  
"Private McCoy."  
  
"Seajae Marie......" She had been seventeen and needed to see her father more then anything to tell him about her acceptance into the Corp. Her step mother had found her a flight to where ever her dad was at that time. He had not been happy to see her. And to her dismay he had not been happy with her choice of careers.  
  
"Long time no see private."  
  
"Made it all the way to Staff Sargent before I called it quits."  
  
"First lutenant here."  
  
"You always had big dreams."  
  
"Is Ed in?"  
  
"For you I think he is. Follow me." Seajae servayed the casino as they walked though it.  
  
"It won't be a surpise I'm here will it?"  
  
"No....I saw you the minute you walked in." They walked to an elevator.  
  
"You didn't know who I was?"  
  
"Your shoulder holster made you a target." He smiled. "You LVPD now?"  
  
"Started last week." She looked at Danny McCoy for the first time in ten years. Really looked at him. "It was all I ever wanted to do. Try to keep the streets safe for the people who live here." Danny knew about Seajae's life with her father but the years with her mother...well no one needed to know about those. The elevator opened and a man in his fifties stood infront of them.  
  
"You are a sight for sore eyes missy." Seajae smiled.  
  
"It's been too long Ed...." She swifty took two steps forward and let the older man engolf her in a hug. She needed his strength. He held her tightly sencing she needed him.  
  
"You can let go now sweety." Seajae knew want he ment and couldn't hold back the tears. Ed DeLine had been a lot of things in his life. Seajae Riely's god father was one of his finer accomplishments. He looked at Danny who knew better then to interupt. The younger man slipped into one of the offices and left the two alone. "Seajae....."  
  
"I'm sorry...." She pushed away and wiped her tears.  
  
"No. There's nothing to be sorry for. You father....he was a good man."  
  
"I know...." She looked at her fathers friend of nearly thirty years. "I found somethings at the house....and Miranda is gone.....the kids......"  
  
"Let's go in my office and you can tell me everything." He lead her up some stairs into a glass office that overlooked the servalice area of the casino.  
  
"Welcome to the big leages huh." Seajae wiped her eyes again and looked around the room.  
  
"It works for me." Ed poured a drink and handed it to Seajae. She drank it down and set the glass on the desk. She was her father's daughter. He watched her as she watched the servalience team, mainly Danny McCoy. "What did you find at the house Seajae?"  
  
"Lot's of things I don't understand." She watched the men and woman watching the screens. "I knew dad wasn't perfect. But Ed these papers....they....."She turned. "They make him look guilty of a lot of things."  
  
"Seajae you know if they were there for you to find someone wanted it that way."  
  
"I know. But I still.....It looks bad. And if Miranda found them....they make thier marriage and the last tweny years a lie."  
  
"She was gone before your dad died Seajae. I went to see him a few days before......" Before he shot himself......Ed couldn't bring himself to say the words. The cancer had ravaged the man and Ed knew he wouldn't of lasted much longer. "He was at peace with it all. Mirand and the kids....well he said his good byes."  
  
"I don't like a wife that wouldn't stand beside her man." Seajae looked at the picture of Ed his wife and his daughter on the desk. Delinda was five years younger then her. A tall beautiful blond. Growing up on the rare days the Riely's and DeLine's got together Delinda made Seajae feel not so alone in a world full of men leaving when duty called. "Where is she Ed?" Seajae looked at him with her father's eyes. He couldn't lie to her.  
  
"She left about a month ago. Just before...." Ed looked out on the servalence room floor. He looked at Danny who was behind his desk. They had found Alan....in the bathroom....nothing left of his skull. The first thing out of Danny's mouth had been..'What are we going to tell his daughter?' Both decided the same thing he and Alan had decided fifteen years ago when they found her mother. They wern't going to tell her anything. But she was with the police department. He was sure she read the report. "Your staying here this week end. I want to go to the house and take a look at those papers."  
  
"Ed.....I can't just up and spend the week end here."  
  
"You have three days off.....I know you do."  
  
"Been keeping tabs on me Big Ed?"  
  
"Since you were born." Seajae looked at the man again.  
  
"Yet you and my father let me live in hell with my mother for thirteen years." There was a bitterness in her voice that had never been directed at Ed before.  
  
"He said he couldn't do anything......"  
  
"Yeah well...it made me who I am and right now I'm comfortable with that. " She took her gun out of her holster and put it on his desk. "I wouldn't want to break any of Big Ed's rules." He put the gun in the safe behind his desk.  
  
"Miranda took the kids to Mexico. I know where she is if you want to ask her some questions but sweety I know she doesn't know anything."  
  
"I came home a year ago and my father and step mother were happy and so in love it made you sick to look at them and I come home the next time and he's been dead and barried for a month and she's gone taking my brothers with her. You better believe I want to talk to her." Ed wanted Seajae to know everything but he knew what she had seen the last five years of her life. He knew she wasn't ready for the secreats her father or his wife had kept from her. He motioned for Danny and he was next to him in less the a minute.  
  
"Take her up to the resident floor....the one next to you. I want to keep her close this weekend." He looked at Seajae. "Whatever you found Seajae...it wasn't there when me and Danny found him. So whoever planted wanted you to find it not us." He saw something in her eyes he didn't like. "Danny will take you upstairs. You need to get some rest and in the morning we'll head to your dad's."  
  
"I know I can trust you Ed." She looked at Danny. "Him I have my doubts about." She smiled. "But daddy always trusted him. Even when he was a private." Seajae looked at Ed. "I need to know what's going on Ed."  
  
"I know." He sat on the corner of his desk and took her hands in his. "I swear we'll figure this all out. Get some rest."  
  
"Ed....."  
  
"When was the last time you ate anything?"  
  
"Ed....."  
  
"Seajae....please. Just get something to eat and some rest and we'll figure this all out in the morning."  
  
"I'd do what he says....you should know better then to disobay a direct order." Danny looked at her and smiled. She could fall hard for that smile like she did when she was seventeen.  
  
"Ok. You win. But if I don't get any answers by the end of the week end I'm out of here." Ed knew she ment it. Se wouldn't just leave the casino she would leave his life. He couldn't loose her again. He wouldn't loose her again. 


	2. A Secret She Can't Remember

Disclaimer: I own Nothing  
  
My Father's Secrets  
  
Chapter Two: A Secret She Can't Remeber  
  
Danny followed behind Seajae as they walked to the elevator. Ten years and twenty pounds had made Seajae Riely into a beautiful woman. He remembered the shy aqwerd seventeen year old ving for her fathers appoval. They day she told him she was making a career out of the Corp was the only time he'd seen Alan Riely loose his temper. He had been twenty one and full of himself. He followed the sobbing girl behind the barracks and held her till she stopped crying. A lot of things had happened in the ten years since they last saw each other. They had both seen too much and forgot to little.  
  
"Ed is happy your here.."  
  
"I would of been here sooner if someone had called me." Seajae turned around. Her brown eyes chunks of ice.  
  
"No one knew where you were." Danny knew that was an excuse. Between Ed's contacts and his they could of found her. But they didn't want her coming back to the caos.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Why what?" Danny stood a foot infront of her. If she was challanging him he was up for a fight.  
  
"Why didn't Ed want me here till now?"  
  
"We care about you Seajae......"  
  
"We? You knew me for about two minutes ten years ago and you say you care?"  
  
"Allan Riely pulled my ass out of the line of fire more then once in the five years he was my CO. I didn't like it much the way he treated you that day but I respected him. I never told Ed about that day. Maybe if I had he would of found a way to keep you away from this mess a little longer." Danny punched the down botton.  
  
"He was angry."  
  
"He hit you." Seajae looked at him. "He hit his seventeen year old daughter because she was following in his footsteps....following her dream."  
  
"He always loved me......."  
  
"I know. I know he never ment to hurt you either but it happened." And Danny had never forgiven the man. He despertly wanted a transfer after that day. But he knew better. Three months later Riely was permoted and he was shipped out to parts unknow. Danny never saw him again until he and Ed found on the floor of his bathroom. They elevator came and they both stepped in. Danny pressed the floor number and stood as far away from her as he could in the small space. Ed knew him. Knew it didn't take him long to fall for any one woman. After a fling with his daughter he would rather the older man know nothing of his personal life.  
  
"I never did thank you for that ice pack." Her voice was a wisper.  
  
"Did your step mother ask about the black eye?"  
  
"I never went back home. I called her and said I needed to clear my head. I didn't go back till after basic."  
  
"He never said he was sorry?"  
  
"No. And by then he had a son." The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Danny stepped out and Seajae followed. A woman was coming down the hall. Her red curls bounceing with every step.  
  
"Hey Danny."  
  
"Hey Mary....Mary Connell, Seajae Riely....a friend of mine from the Corp." The woman held out her hand.  
  
"Hey, friend from high school here. Well I need to get to work. Are you in town long?"  
  
"I live here.....Ed and Danny are helping me with some things....." The woman had a warm smile. Seajae liked Mary Connell right away.  
  
"Well then we all need to get together....see ya later." She disappeared into the elevator as Danny opened the door across the hall.  
  
"Mary is the hotel's Special event coordinator."  
  
"So you all live out of the hotel?"  
  
"Just a few of us that are on call twenty four seven."  
  
"I guess with a carpet joint like this you need to keep on your toes."  
  
"I forgot your a native." They went into the dark room. Danny turned on a light. "Do you want to go downstairs to eat or you want something brought up?" He noticed Seajae had become tence. "Seajae?" He put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Sorry. Just...remembering. My mom was a gambling addict. A crossroader most of the time. She cheated most of the sawdust joints on the strip."  
  
"You grew up in casino's."  
  
"And hotels. I never had a house until Daddy. Even when my mom had a man we stayed in small apartments off the strip. Ed found her too. I came home from school one day and she was gone. I had Ed's number tucked away in a book he gave me when I was five. I called it and Alice.....she found him and he came and got me. I don't know where he had come from but he was dressed like he just came from a war. He took me to my dad. They had been working on something important for the CIA and he came and got me."  
  
"You said Ed found her too?"  
  
"I was fifteen and one day dad got a call. Ed came and picked him up and they were gone about three hours. They came back and daddy locked himself in his study and Ed told me my mom was dead. I found out later she had been raped and left for dead. But she wasn't dead. Her rapist broke her neck. She layed there for days....." Tears welled up in her eyes. She hadn't cried for her mom in years. Danny took her in his arms. "I'm stronger then this." She wispered.  
  
"I know. And you can be strong tomorrow." He held her close. Remebering a time ten years ago when he did the same thing. They'd both been though a lot back then. But she was a child and he.....well he needed the Corp. So had she. But unlike before Seajae clung to him. She burried her head in his sholder and sobbed. A lifetime of pain had hit her hard and now she was at a breaking point. They stood there for a long time. The sun had gone down and the lights of the strip illuminated the room. After a little while more Danny pushed Seajae away. "Let's get you some dinner."  
  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- *-*-*-*-*  
  
Seajae pushed around her salad. Danny looked at his watch. Ed hadn't paged him in the hour and a half that he'd been with her. That was strange for him not to get at least one call if not a dozen in that time. He knew Ed was watching. Maybe he knew the young woman shouldn't be alone.  
  
"You haven't eaten very much."  
  
"I'm not that hungry." Seajae put her fork down and looked at Danny. "Do you know what he was into?"  
  
"Your father? No. All I know is for the last ten years he's been stateside and that his wife had two kids." Danny took a drink of his water. "Ed didn't even know I knew him till we found him that day."  
  
"Ed and my father have been friends for years. Enemy's too. If it wasn't for my mom my name might of been Edwina." Seajae smiled. It was the first time Danny had ever seen her smile. It was a beautiful sight.  
  
"Thank goodness your mother nipped that in the butt huh?"  
  
"Yeah. It was the only smart thing she did." The smile left and Danny missed it. A woman came to the table.  
  
"Who's your date Danny?" Seajae looked up. Delinda Deline had always been pretty. But now at twenty -two she was stunning. And jelous.  
  
"Hi Delinda." The blond looked at Seajae. "It's been a long time."  
  
"Seajae...Seajae Riely?" The woman sqeeled. "Oh my god....." She hugged Seajae. "Look at you. Your all grown up."  
  
"I can say the same for you. You were what thirteen the last time I saw you?"  
  
"Yeah. You were always so cool for being older. You never treated me like a child." She looked at Danny. "You two know each other?" She went from happy to see Seajae to unhappy she was sitting with her father's second in command.  
  
"My father was Danny's first CO. We met on base."  
  
"Have you seen mom and dad?"  
  
"Your dad yes. I haven't seen your mom." Seajae stood. "I'm going upstairs." Danny stood up. Seajae held out her hand. "I can find my way. It was nice seeing you Delinda." He didn't want her do go but the look on Delinda's face told him he better stay and not follow Seajae. Looking at the younger woman he sighed. He was never going to live down sleeping with the boss's daughter and even after she told him it was over she had him on a tight leash. "Seajae..."He handed her a card. "If you need anything." She took and looked at him. He was a far cry from the scared kid under her father's command. But the 'don't touch' look she got from Delinda was making her even more sorry that he wasn't the man she needed him to be. Seajae headed to the elevator and Danny gave Delinda an icy stare.  
  
"What?" She asked. She was spoiled rotten. Danny knew from experence. But she was good person deep down inside. He knew that too.  
  
"Stop being a snot Delinda." He stood up and headed back to his office.  
  
"What are you talking about?" She followed him.  
  
"Green isn't your color." He headed though the casino. His phone rang. He grabbed it and answered. "McCoy."  
  
"How is she?"  
  
"Delinda?" Danny knew what Ed ment but just felt like pushing some bottons.  
  
"No smart ass.....you know who I mean."  
  
"Tence.....very tence."  
  
"Delinda didn't piss her off did she?" Danny stopped. He'd never seen Ed take anyone else's side but Delinda's when it came down to her agaist anyone.  
  
"No. She was tiered." Delinda looked at him with that same snotty look. She was jelous. Not only of Danny's intrest but of Ed's.  
  
"Go be with her please. Send your blond tail up to me." Danny raised his eye brows.  
  
"You got it. Are you sure this isn't something your should be doing?"  
  
"I think your better equipped to handle her right now."  
  
"Better equipped?"  
  
"Your service record and her's could be copies. She's fresh out of the line of fire. Plus the thing with her dad." Ed took a deep breath. "Just keep her safe."  
  
"Do you think the guys that planted the suff at the house might...."  
  
"No. They're are long gone. I think she's acting tougher then she feels."  
  
"Your not telling me everything Ed."  
  
"Do I ever?"  
  
"Well when you put it that way." Danny hung up and looked at Delinda and her pouty girl lips. "Your dad wants to see you." He put his phone in his pocket and headed to the elevator.  
  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  
  
The knock was quiet. Seajae sat in the chair by the window, her legs curled beneither her. She looked out at the lights of the strip. She hated Las Vegas at night. Too many memories flooded back. Earlier at dinner she stopped herself from cringing everytime the lights and wistles sounded on a slot machine. Not wanting to get up she just egnored the knock. She heard the card sliding in the lock.  
  
"I didn't say come in." Danny McCoy came in and stopped in front of her.  
  
"I thought you did." He looked at her damp hair and fought the urge to brush it away from her face. She looked like she did at seventeen. Young, vaulnable. "You ok?" He knew she wasn't. Her hands were shaking. He took one in his hand and they were cold. He knelt down in front of her. "I'm here if you want to talk. I've been where you are. Fresh from having someone tell you when you can piss. And who you have to hate that day."  
  
"Did you see a lot of action?"  
  
"More then I ever wanted to." He looked into her hard brown eyes. "When I came home no one understood what I'd been though....except Ed. He knew what to do. How to keep my mind on the here and now and not the past."  
  
"How?"  
  
"He gave me a job and a ton of work." He smiled. His smile was so warm Seajae wanted to reach out and touch him. His phone rang just as she reached for him. He stood. "McCoy"  
  
"I'm sending my wife up. You can get back to work."  
  
"Ed I'm fine here."  
  
"Did you forget who's in charge." He put his hand on the reciever.  
  
"Alice is on the way up." Seajae shook her head. "Ed Seajae wants to be alone."  
  
"No."  
  
"I can stay with her."  
  
"You have a job to do."  
  
"I thought I was doing the job you sent me to do."  
  
"Get your ass back down here." There was a knock on the door. Danny hung up and turned to Seajae.  
  
"I can tell her that your sleeping." Seajae nodded her head and curled up tighter on the chair. "If you need me you know where to find me." He touched her cheek and went to head off Alice Deline before she broke down the door.  
  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  
  
It had taken Danny ten minutes to talk Alice into putting off thier reunion till morning. He went straight to the controle room and right to his desk. He wasn't sure on how to take Ed with all this. He was all over the place. If he wanted anything more from him he would have to ask. He consentrated on the video screen in front of him.  
  
"Your playing a game you know nothing about." Ed was behind him.  
  
"I know what you tell me and you told me to watch out for Seajae."  
  
"I said watch out for her not sleep with her." Danny turned to look at the man who had given him a job when no one else would. He helped him though a lot.  
  
"I was talking to her. Sleeping with her was the farthest thing from my mind." It was only a white lie. He wanted to hold her and make the demons that made her brown eyes cold and distant go away. If only for a night.  
  
"Delinda seemed to think otherwise."  
  
"No disrespect but Delinda needs to grow up." Danny stood up. "Something other then her fathers death is bothering Seajae. Ed there's a look in her eye that comes from knowing and seeing to much. You said her service record and mine could be copies. There's more then just the combat isn't there?" Ed looked away telling Danny he was right. "What's in there Ed?" The older man turned back and looked at Danny.  
  
"I can't tell you because I don't know. Not even me and my connections can find out what happened to her the last eighteen months of her inlistment." Ed looked at the screens in front of him. "No ones talking. No one's telling."  
  
"Then it was something bad?"  
  
"I would like to think differntly but yeah. It had to be bad if the CIA can't hack the informantion. That's why we couldn't find her after Alan died."  
  
"Ed Seajae needs someone....someone she can trust."  
  
"And you think your the person?"  
  
"She trusted me with things ten years ago."  
  
"I swear to God if you touch her......"  
  
"Ed......I'm really sorry about sleeping with Delinda....don't hold that agaist me...ok."  
  
"She's like another daughter to me Danny." Something flickered in Ed's eyes and was gone again. "You hurt this one and it will be the last time you use it." Danny knew he was serious. His little fling with Delinda cost him some of the man's well earned trust.  
  
"I want to make sure she get's though this.......that's all." Danny stood up. "You can trust me to do this." Ed looked at him. He knew the younger man had seen alot in his stint in the Corp.  
  
"Like I said you hurt her you answer to me." Danny smiled.  
  
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Danny went to the elevators. If he was lucky Seajae was asleep. Free of what ever was worring her for just a little while. His phone rang. "McCoy."  
  
"Danny, its Sam. Can you come down to the lounge for a minute."  
  
"Trouble?"  
  
"Maybe...maybe not. I don't want to go to Ed if......"  
  
"Ok." He pressed the down botton instead of up. Sam delt with the high rollers. She never paniced. Always cool. He got out of the elevator and headed to the lounge. "Hey." He said as he approched Samantha Jane and an older well dressed man. "Mr. Guthrie....good to see you again." Danny knew the man from previous visits. Sam pulled Danny aside.  
  
"Mrs. Guthrie died last month. Mr. Guthrie would like to talk to someone about.....spreading her ash's."  
  
"Wouldn't that be a job for...say a funeral home...or something."  
  
"He wants them spread on the casino floor." Danny looked at Sam. She wasn't kidding.  
  
"Oh. Well...I'm pretty sure we can't do that. I mean....there's got to be a health code or something." Danny looked at the older man. "Sam....is he...is she..." He pointed at the box in the man's hands.  
  
"Yes. Danny the Guthries drop a million dollars a year here. Can you think of something?" Sam was serious. She wanted him to figure out what to do with the ash's of one of thier best customers.  
  
"If we let him do it on the casino floor the maids will vacume her up in the morning. She's be in the vacume bag and then in the dumpster." Danny looked at the old man holder the gold canister. "Call Mike and tell him to get the hotel helecopter rounded up." Danny went to the older man standing holding the ash's of his beloved wife. "Mr. Guthrie, the hotel helecopter can fly you over the strip and you could deposite her......remains where she loved to spend her time.....here on the strip." Danny hopped the man would find this idea suitable. His phone rang. "Would she like that?"  
  
"Yes Danny she would love it. She never flew in a helecopter before." The old man smiled. Danny's phone kept ringing. "You get that. And thank you." Danny took his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open.  
  
"McCoy."  
  
"I hate Vegas at night." Her voice was just a wisper but Danny knew the instint she spoke who it was.  
  
"So what are you doing?"  
  
"Just watching the lights." She leaned her head agaist the glass. Danny started to the elevators.  
  
"The night time is the best time around here."  
  
"Not for me. My mom would leave me at night while she went out. I was always alone."  
  
"Maybe you need to see that Las Vegas at night isn't all that bad when you have someone to share it with." He pressed the up botton. Seajae sat in the chair and curled up.  
  
"Maybe." She sighed.  
  
"Seajae....."  
  
"I can't sleep."  
  
"I can bring up some warm milk."  
  
"I haven't slept much in the last month."  
  
"Why did you come home?" He wanted to know what all the seacrets were about. Getting into the elevator he pressed the botton for the emplyee floor.  
  
"They said I had enough." Looking out at the strip she tried to forget.  
  
"Did you?" The door opened and Danny got out of the elevator.  
  
"I had to much." He slid his card key down the lock and opened the door. He hung up his phone and shut it off. She was curled up on the chair he had left her in. Her hair dry and pulled back from her face. Danny knew from that momment he and Ed needed to find out what had happened to Seajae in the months before her discharge. And he needed to know why Ed cared so much.  
  
"You need to sleep." Danny knelt in front of her for the second time in an hour.  
  
"I remember things in my sleep that I don't when I'm awake." She looked at Danny and remembered how he had been nice to her the days that followed her father's fit of anger. How he'd kept her away from him until her flight left. She had slept then.. In the small hotel room he had found for her. He hadn't changed much since then. He was still being nice to her.  
  
"Would it help if I stay? Maybe talking about it....when you wake up will help?" She smiled.  
  
"I think I'm a big girl and need to face these things on my own."  
  
"You don't have to. I want to help."  
  
"I don't recall asking for help."  
  
"You didn't ask me ten years ago eaither and I did it anyway."  
  
"I lost at least a year. My mind is foggy and grey for the last year. I...I was on a rutine shuttle mission. Take some prisioners and villagers from one city to another. We we're ambushed somewhere along the way.....and I woke up elven months later at Bethesda Navel Hospital."  
  
"What did they tell you?"  
  
"Head trama. No one told me where I'd been or how long I'd been back." She looked at the lights of the city. "They told me they found me in a hotel in Bagdad. My uniform as clean as the day I put it on. My dog tags on."  
  
"And that's all they said?"  
  
"And that it was December not January." She stood up and Danny stood with her. Her long t-shirt not hiding her curves. "The wispered a lot. Like they were wating for me to tell them what happened." Pouring a glass of tequila that Danny didn't know she had, she drank it down. "I couldn't. The brass asked me what I wanted to do when I got out and here I am. They failed to tell me my father was dead and my step mom gone off the face of the earth. Lucky thing they didn't know about Ed or he'd of been gone too."  
  
"What are you saying?" Seajae slammed down her glass.  
  
"I'm saying someone is trying to keep me away from my memories and making sure I have no one to tell them to." 


	3. Trying To Remember

Disclaimer: I own Nothing  
  
My Father's Secrets  
  
Chapter Three: Trying To Remember  
  
Seajae poured another drink. This time she just looked at it. She knew it wasn't the answer. She also knew she didn't want to be alone tonight. Danny had made her feel safe that night ten years ago. He had told her that her father was hardened by what he saw in thier line of work. Now she knew what Danny had ment. He had gotten into the Corps at seventeen and saw it all before he was old enough to order a drink in a bar.  
  
"Seajae....." She didn't want to talk anymore. It had been a long few weeks and she needed to forget it all. Danny had been there when she broke down ten years ago. That had been the last time she had let anyone see her cry. He took her in his arms now and hugged her close. "You need some sleep."  
  
"Come to bed with me." She wispered. He knew he should tell her no but she needed him. He couldn't say no. Seajae crawled under the sheet and pulled them down on the other side. Danny took off his shoes and jacket and crawled in next to her. She snuggled close to him and before he could say another word she was sound asleep.  
  
"Sweet dreams." He wispered and kissed the top of her head. If Ed knew he was in bed with his god daughter he would kill him. Danny wondered what had happened to her in the eleven months she had fogotten. He would have to look into finding out. Closing his eyes he drifted off to sleep.  
  
*-*--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  
  
Seajae woke with a start. She felt warm arms wrap around her. She didn't have to open her eyes to know it was Danny. He had been a rock for her again. Ed needed to know about her memory loss too. But she hadn't been ready to tell him. Danny wouldn't tell him unless she said he could. Suggling deeper into his arms Seajae prayed the dreams stayed away tonight. The dreams were too real most nights. The pain racked though her like it was happing all over again. Whatever it was.  
  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  
  
The scream woke Danny up from a deep sleep. He sat up and looked around for Seajae. She was across the room looking for something in her bag. He got up and reached for her. Her hand shot out and was behind his back before he could take another breath.  
  
"Seajae?" Danny knew she wasn't awake. But even in her sleep she got the jump on him. "Seajae...." Danny twisted and got the upper hand, taking her in his arms from behind. "WAKE UP! Damn it." She brought her foot up and planted it on his bare arch. Before he knew it the door of her room was swinging open and Ed stood there with a gun pointed at him.  
  
"Get your hands off of her Danny."  
  
"Ed she's sleep walking....." He was struggling with Seajae, trying to wake her up. "I...." She pulled out of his grip turned and planted a left hook to his jaw. He grabbed her right hand before she could land another blow. "Seajae please wake up." He pushed her gentally as he could to the bed. She looked at him with hollow eyes.  
  
"Danny?" She looked at him and at Ed holding the gun. "What's going on?" She was shaking and scared.  
  
"You must of been having a dream." She looked at Ed still holding the gun on Danny. She knew she needed to tell Ed everything. Danny had tried to help her that's all.  
  
"Put the gun down Ed and pull up a chair." He gave her a look but then sat down. Danny sat on the bed next to her. Reaching back he got a blanked and wrapped around her shoulders. "Last January my unit was transporting prisoners and villiagers from one Iraqi town to the next. There was twenty of us. We were outside a small village when a sniper started fireing. All I remeber is the soldier next to me bringing me down and dragging me under the truck next to us." She looked down at the floor. "I woke up eleven months later in Bethesda. No one would tell me what happened or where the rest of my unit ended up. They questioned me for days. I couldn't recall much of anything. Just those first moments of the ambush."  
  
"You can't remember where you were at all?"  
  
"It comes back now and then in a dream. I hear voices. Feel people around me." She stood up and looked at the fading darkness. "I know I was raped. I confirmed it with a doctor here in town. She thinks I may have given birth also." Seajae stared out at the city. "It was like my body wasn't mine anymore." Danny stood up and went to her. Not caring what Ed thought he went behind her and held her. "Now I come back to no one and my family strangers."  
  
"You have us." Ed wispered. "Alice, Delinda, me.....Danny." Ed stood up. "We're going to find out what happened. I will call in every favor I have....."  
  
"Maybe not remembering is better then...finding out what happened for all those months." She leaned agaist Danny. Ed knew the younger man had endured a lot when he was in the Corp. But seeing someone you care for suffer this way was hard on anyone. Even him.  
  
"How much sleep did you get tonight?"  
  
"More then usaul. I was really wiped." Seajae reagianed what composier she had and pushed away from Danny and grabbed some clothes. "We better head to dad's before they destroy that evidence too." She went into the bathroom and closed the door.  
  
"What the hell is going on Ed?" Danny wispered.  
  
"I don't know but I sure in the hell gonna find out. If she was a POW someone from the state department should of informed Alan and me."  
  
"Maybe they were someplace they wern't suppose to be."  
  
"Even if they were they would notify us that she was missing."  
  
"But you would of gone looking for her. If they gave you faulse coordinates....."  
  
"There was nineteen other people in that unit. If twenty Marnines disappeared off the face of the earth don't you think someone would of said somethimg?"  
  
"Not if they were a expendable unit." Danny sat on the bed.  
  
"Danny even I know they don't exsist any more. In Nam maybe...." He looked at the younger man. "But Seajae had family. She would of been missed."  
  
"I don't know. Alan had been sick for months. Maybe they sent her in thinking by the time she got out..if she got out....her family would be gone."  
  
"That's a big stretch Danny."  
  
"We're talking the government Ed." The shower started and Danny went to Seajae's bag and looked what she had been reaching for. He pulled out a knife. "I hope she wasn't planing on using this on me." Ed looked at the Marine issued survival knife. His friends daughter needed help. For the first time in a long time Ed Deline wasn't sure where to start looking to find that help.  
  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  
  
The shower felt good and Seajae stayed in longer then she should of. She felt safe here with Ed and and Danny. She hadn't felt safe in a very long time. Danny had come to her when she told them of the rape. She figured any man would cringe at the thought of a woman he had his sights on being used in such a degrating way. Her father had hit her that one time. But that was all it took to make her feel that she wasn't the daughter he wanted. After boot camp she had come home to make amends and he had a new born son. Kyle was the boy he wanted for so long. She stayed three days and never came back. Alan Riely never apoligized for hitting her that day. Now she didn't even know if he had been sorry or not. Turning off the water Seajae stepped out and looked at herself in the full length mirror. She had been a virgin a year ago. She had never found a man that made her feel that her career was nothing but a passing fancy. Now, without remembering she wasn't a virgin anymore and she might have a child somewhere. Life wasn't fair. She knew that when her mom started gambling everything they had away. But things should of gotten better. But somehow things kept getting worse.  
  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  
  
"Danny?" Mary Donald knocked on her friends door. He missed their after work drink and she was beging to worry. She looked at her watch. It was almost six. "Danny?" She knocked again. Hearing the door next to his open she turned to see Ed, Danny and Danny's friend walk out of the room. "Hey you missed our bloody mary breakfeast." Danny looked up at his highschool friend.  
  
"God Mary I'm sorry. Me and Ed, we're helping Seajae with some things and I lost track of time." Mary frowned. Danny looked well rested for helping his friend all night long. "Dinner tonight. All of us. Mystiqe." They all got into the elevator leaving Mary with her mouth open.  
  
"She look pissed." Seajae watched as the doors closed.  
  
"She'll get over it." They went downstairs. In the parking garage Ed gave Seajae back her gun.  
  
"You think I might need this?"  
  
"I hope not. But better be safe then sorry." They headed toward the house that Seajae called home. "You sure you want to do this?"  
  
"I need help finding out what all the stuff at the house means Ed. I can't just go to someone in the Justice Department and say 'Here I found this in my dad's house'."  
  
"We'll figure it all out." They got into Ed's Hummer and headed to a place Seajae was sure she didn't want be anymore.  
  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  
  
The house seemed cold. Seajae stopped in the foyer. She didn't like the cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. She felt Danny's hand on her back. She knew him and Ed would stand behind her. She knew that but the fear was there. It would always be there.  
  
"The stuff is in the den." She went into the kitchen and started the coffee pot. She didn't want to face what was in the other room. The papers. The money.....the lies. It was a good half hour before she went to give Danny and Ed thier coffee. "Is it bad?"  
  
"Well it isn't looking good." Ed looked over his glasses. "These were here when you got here?"  
  
"Yeah. The boxes stacked in the courner. The money........in the bottom drawer." She handed the men thier coffee. "All I looked at was the word confidential written on the covers of all the folders I got sick and didn't....couldn't look at them."  
  
"Well none of this stuff pertains to anything your dad was working on before he left the CIA. All this stuff is dated within the last year or so. I'm thinking it's just stuff they pulled out to make him look bad. But the money and they way the rest of the family took off....."  
  
"Just...find a way to get it out of here. I'm selling the place as soon as I can."  
  
"Where are you going to live."  
  
"Anywhere but here." She went to her room and began packing what little she had after leaving the service. Danny looked at Ed. He shook his head.  
  
"I'm going to get someone to clean the place. You get her back to the hotel. Don't let her out of your sight."  
  
"You got it Ed." Danny got up and went to see if Seajae needed any help packing. 


	4. Lean On Me

Chapter Three: Lean On Me  
  
Seajae sat in the pasangers seat of Ed's Hummer as Danny drove down the nearly empty Strip. It was just after noon. Too late for the late nighters and too early for the early birds. She remebered walking home from school when she lived with her mother. The streets were so quiet and then less then an hour later they would burst to life. Coming home to her mother passed out or rolling around thier hotel room with a stranger. Tears stung her eyes as she remebered. She felt a warm hand on hers.  
  
"It's going to be alright Seajae." She looked at Danny McCoy's warm eyes.  
  
"You really believe that?"  
  
"Yeah...I do. Your strong. You survived whatever you went though over there and now this...this is a cake walk." They pulled into the hotel parking lot and gave the keys to the valet. "You need to get some sleep."  
  
"So do you." They went to the elevators. "What time do you have to be to work?" Danny looked at his watch.  
  
"Four hours." He looked at her. The past few days had taken a lot out of her. Hell the last year had torn her up. "You want me to stay with you?"  
  
"Could you?" She had never really needed anyone. Not her mother or father. Not Ed. They had kept her safe in thier own way until the Marine Corps took over. They had been her family. All she ever needed till she came back to the states. Back to a place she barly knew. Barley could stomach. Now Danny was there and so was Ed. Cleaning up something she had now clue on what to do about.  
  
"You know I will." The elevator opened and Danny lead Seajae to her room. Taking out his master key he opened it and let her in. "I'll be back in a few minutes. I need to get a few things from my place." She knodded and watched him close the door. She changed into an old pair of jogging pants and a t-shirt and looked out over the city. It looked harmless in the sunshine. Seajae knew better. Hearing Danny she turned and watched as he put his suit over the chair.  
  
"I'm not usally this chicken."  
  
"No one says your chicken. You've been though a lot Seajae. Your just overwelmed." He stepped in front of her and ran his hand down her cheek. "It will all work out. I promise." She didn't want to give in to the warm feeling she felt when Danny touched her. But she had been so cold for so long. Wrapping her arms around him she laid her head on his chest. He ran his hand down her hair and to her back. Seajae could feel the warmth spread. She looked up at Danny and she was lost in his eyes like she had been at seventeen.But the kiss....the kiss was nothing like the peck on the cheek he gave her ten years ago. It was a kiss between a woman and a man. Seajae pushed away a little and looked into his eyes once again.  
  
"I don't know where I've been and I don't know where I'm going but I do know is I want this Danny. So please don't be a gentalman like you were ten years ago and push me away."  
  
"I stopped being a gentleman when I picked up these from my room." He threw a box of condoms on the bed side table. The kiss he gave her this time warmed her down to her toes. Seajae knew she was in over her head but with Danny McCoy by her side she knew she wasn't going down alone.  
  
------------------------  
  
Danny hit the alarm a few seconds after it started. He looked over at the woman sleeping peacfully next to him. God she was beautiful. Her mother had been of mexican decent and it showed in her skin and eyes. But her hair, her hair was as golden as a wheat field in late summer. He knew he shouldn't be here. In her bed. But damn it felt right. More right then he had felt in a long time. Slipping out of bed and into the shower he wondered if she felt the way he did. The sound of the shower door opening and the feel of warm hands on his back told him she felt something, Turning around he looked down into her warm brown eyes.  
  
"I guess I don't have to ask you if your having second thoughts?"  
  
"No just coming back for seconds." She raised herself up on her toes and kissed him. "You know how to show a girl a good time Danny McCoy."  
  
"You know they irony is you don't you?"  
  
"That I don't remember any other lover but you?" She smiled.  
  
"No . I have a feeling if we'd done this ten years ago it wouldn't of been half as sweet." He knew she was hiding behind the moment and he wanted to tell her she didn't have to but he held her close and kissed her like he never kissed another woman. The sound of the phone broke them apart. "I think you better get that." Seajae smiled and kissed him one more time before sliding the shower door open, grabbing a towell and picking up the phone.  
  
"Hello." Seajae smiled. "Yeah Ed he'll be down in a few minutes. He's in the shower." Danny looked at her. He couldn't believe she told Ed where he was. "Ok. I'll tell him." She hung up the phone and turned to look at him as he got out of the shower. "Ed said you have five minutes to get downstairs."  
  
"I can't believe you told him I was in the shower."  
  
"I've never lied to Ed." She slipped on a t shirt and her jogging pants as Danny got dressed.  
  
"I'm so dead."  
  
"Oh come on. He knows you were with me. We don't need to tell him what we did between the time we got back and now." Seajae sat on the chair in front of the window.  
  
"He'll know. Ed always knows." He put on his tie. "You need to eat something for dinner. Come down stairs later and get something."  
  
"I'll see." Danny stopped what he was doing and went to her and kneeled infront of her.  
  
"Please. You need to keep up your strength."  
  
"I'll be fine."  
  
"I'll send Alice up here." She knew he would do it to.  
  
"Okay. I'll be down in a couple of hours. If I go down with my hair wet Ed might put two and two together." She smiled. Danny loved her smile. She had done a lot of it in the last couple of hours.  
  
"Ok. If your not downstairs but 9:45 I'm sending Alice." He kissed her one more time and headed out the door. He had three minutes to get to Ed's office. Hoping the elevator was close he punched the botten. It came with in a minute and Danny sighed with relief as he got in. He phone rang and he knew it was Ed. "McCoy."  
  
"How is she?"  
  
"She slept."  
  
"Did you?"  
  
"Yeah I got a couple of hours." Danny looked down at the floor knowing Ed was watching him.  
  
"I transfered all the boxes and the money to the interrogation room."  
  
"Did you run the serial numbers?"  
  
"Not yet." The elevator door opened. Danny hung up the phone and headed into Ed's office.  
  
"I told Seajae she needed to eat. She's got till nine forty five then I'm sending Alice to ambush her."  
  
"Sounds good. I have some things here I need you to take care then I want you to start going thought those boxes. There's got to be a clue in there somewhere."  
  
"Ed, do you think she'll ever remember what happened to her?"  
  
"The more I hear the more I pray to god she doesn't." Danny looked at the man who had been his mentor since he returned to Las Vegas.  
  
"I'm begining to hope the same thing. If she would of got that knife this morning she would of killed me."  
  
"Save us all some hard ache." Ed laughed.  
  
"You'd miss me and you know it." Danny got up. "I'm going to take a walk on the floor. You want to come?"  
  
"No, you go ahead. Oh and by the way stay clear of Mary and Delinda." Danny raised his eyebrows.  
  
"What did I do now?"  
  
"Beats me but they're not happy with you."  
  
"Are they ever." Danny turned and started to leave the office.  
  
"Danny?" He turned around.  
  
"Yeah Ed?"  
  
"She's not like the others."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Seajae. She's not like Mary and Delinda."  
  
"Meaning?"  
  
"She grew up thinking that her mother was a whore and an addict."  
  
"Wasn't she?"  
  
"Yeah. It made her hard Danny. She never had the love she deserved from her mother or her dad. He just wasn't built that way."  
  
"What are you trying to tell me Ed?"  
  
"I guess I'm saying that don't be offened if she pushes you away." Danny looked at the older man.  
  
"From what I here you and Alice taught her what it was like to be wanted. I have a feeling it's you she learned how to love from. Not her parents. They say it isn't the qaunity but the quality of love you show a person that affects them. I think you and Alice affected Seajae enough to keep her from giving up."  
  
"I hope so. Mary and Delinda....they think....you might be falling for Seajae."  
  
"Truth be told Ed I fell for her ten years ago." He was telling him the truth. He had fallen in love with the girl ten years ago and maybe the woman she had become.  
  
"You hurt her........"  
  
"I know, you'll kill me." Danny turned and headed down the steps. "I'd die before I would hurt her Ed." For some reason Ed Deline knew Danny was telling the truth. He trusted the man with his casino and Delinda but how could he trust him with the one thing he kept closest to his heart, His first born daughter. It was his cross to bear. His secret. His alone. Ed watched Danny and prayed this whole mess didn't blow up in his face.. 


	5. Remembering

Chapter Four-Remembering

Seajae sat at the table in the back of the restraunt. She picked up her fork and looked at her salad. She wasn't hungry and she just wanted to go back up upstairs. But the dreams haunted her there. When Danny left she tried to get some more sleep. But with sleep came the dreams. The dreams were getting more vivid and more frightening.

"Hey," Delinda pulled up the chair across from her.

"Hey."

"You look a little down." Seajae looked at the younger woman.

"I'm ok. I heard you run this place. You did good Delinda."

"Daddy told me what you....where you were. That you became a Marine."

"Yeah. Daddy's dream for his son."

"But you wanted it to. It was all you used to talk about."

"I guess it was. You always wanted to be a beauty queen.:"

"That never happened. But daddy let me run this place and it seemed to suit me." Delinda looked at her friend. "Seajae can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Danny.....Danny and I dated for a while." She looked at Seajae. "I broke his heart. And then there's Mary. He dated her in high school and I think they want to start something." Seajae always knew Delinda didn't play fair. But something told her that this was personal.

"Are you saying Danny's not availible?"

"He's off limits."

"I get the picture but Delinda, maybe you should talk to Danny because I don't want to get in the middle of anything. But I'm and adult capable of making my own choices and if I choose to prosue Danny McCoy, thats my buisiness and Danny's."

"Well then watch your back because Mary's my friend."

"So was I at one time." Seajae didn't want to fight with Ed's daughter. Ed was too important to her. "I'm sorry me being here has made problems. I'll be gone tomorrow."

"Maybe if you left now......."

Danny was talking to Nessa the casino's head pit boss when his phone rang.

"Yeah."

"You better get to Mystic fast."

"Why? " Danny started to make his way though the casino.

"Seajae and Delinda are chatting and it doesn't look like its friendly." Danny stepped up his pace.

"I got it." He hung up and hopped he wasn't to late to stop them from killing each other.

"I can't just leave Delinda. You father and Danny are helping me with something."

"My father is always was leaving to rescue you."

"What?"

"Whenever you called he would just drop everything and go rescue you from whatever mess your whore of a mother got you into." Seajae put her fork down. "My fifth birthday party he got a call from you and he left my party. He didn't get back on till all my friends and family had gone home."

"I didn't know."

"Yeah well he was always saving someone else and leaving me and my mom alone most of the time." Seajae put her napkin on her plate and stood up.

"I'm sorry I caused you such a tramatic child hood." Danny came up behind Delinda. "And I'm sorry I'm making it so hard on you now." She wanted to lay into the younger woman. She had always had it all. The looks, the money . the parents who loved her. "I just need to figure some things out."

"Well your not welcome here so get out."

"Hey you two.......catching up?" He looked between the two woman and realized it wasn't friendly banter.

"You don't want to go there Delinda."

"Why. You scared Daddy won't rescue you?"

"I don't need your father to keep me from kicking your ass." Danny stepped between the two of them.

"Ok. That's enough." Seajae looked at him and remembered that three hours ago he was in her bed making her feel things that she never had before. She didn't want to deal with those feelings along with the hurt she was feeling that her one time good friend was mad at her. Seajae looked at Danny and then Delinda.

"I'm going upstairs." Seajae pushed her chair out and headed out of the restaurant. Danny turned to Delinda.

"You......you just stay put." He went after Seajae and caught her at the elevators. "Seajae....." She didn't turn around. "Seajae please." He put his hand on her shoulder.

"I suggest you not do that." She shrugged his hand off.

"Seajae.....whatever Delinda said......she.....she's Delinda."

"She said you and Mary were just about to realize you had something together."

"Mary and I have been on the verge of something for twenty years. Then we realize that friends is all we could ever be." The elevator opened and Seajae waited till the people exited before she got it. Danny followed her. "Seajae......"

" I really don't want to fight about this Danny. I just want to clear up things with my father then I'm out of here."

"Out of the hotel or out of LasVegas?"

"What does it matter?"

"It matters because less then four hours ago you and I were doing a lot more then talking. I though it ment something to you." Danny's phone rang. He answered it. "Damn it Ed I'm in the middle of something here."

"Get your ass back down here." He knew he should listen to Ed and stop the fight now before things got out of hand. But the woman standing next to him ment something to him. Ment everythign to him. He hung up the phone and turned it off.

"Delinda is mad at the world and you just caught her at a real bad time."

"She has a right to hate me. All those times I called him and not my father."

"Your father was a million miles away."

"And Ed wasn't?" The door opened and Seajae got out. Danny followed her.

"Delinda is a selfish bitch. Ed and Jillian spoiled her rotten. But she has a big heart and if she knew about your mom I'm sure she would see things in a different light."

"She knows about my mom. She called her a whore." Seajae opened the door. "Just go back to work Dannny. I'll be out of everyones hair soon enough."

"Ed won't let you leave."

"Ed doesn't own me. I'm leaving. Tell him I'll call him and check if he found anything out about my dad." She went to close the door, but Danny caught it with his hand.

"You can't leave."

"Watch me." Danny watched as she packed her bag.

"Didn't what we did mean anything to you?" She ran her hand though her hair and sat on the bed.

"We had sex Danny. That's all. It was really nice and all but there's nothing else to it."

"Your such a bad lier Seajae Riely." Danny stood in front of her. "I know there was more then that. You can't hide behind your tough Marine exterior. I felt something ten years ago and I feel the same way now." A knock on the door stopped him from kissing her. Seajea got up and pushed passed Danny and went to the door. She opened it to see Ed standing there. He looked pale and if Seajae wasn't mistaken a little scared.

"Where is he?" Seajae didn't have to ask who. She just stepped aside and let Ed in. Danny had moved the chair by the window, elbows on his knees, head in his hands. He didn't want to deal with Ed. Not now. Not when something he wanted so badly was hanging on by a thread. "You are so fired." Danny stood up took his phone from his belt, his keys from his pocket and his ID card from his wallet.

"It's been nice Ed." He looked at Seajae. His job had been his world for a long time. He's hurt people putting it above anyone and anything. Delinda and Mary. His dad for not coming to work for the company after coming home. Ed had been the cruch he needed to make it in the world after the Corps. Now he wasn't sure Ed could work into his life. A life without Seajae. He headed to the door. "If you change your mind Seajae, well I don't know where I'll on. Ed, he really didn't mean it."

"I didn't." Seajae looked at Ed.

"He ment it. I'm just lucky he didn't kill me."

"What?"

"He said if I hurt you he'd kill me."

"I still may do it." Ed looked at Seajae's bag on the bed. "You going somewhere?"

"I don't have anywhere to go." She sat on the bed. "And Delinda's mad at me and everytime I close my eyes I see things that I don't remember ever doing......" Danny knew she had pushed him and Ed away for some reason. Now he knew. The things from the past year were coming back.

"Seajae...Delinda....well Delinda's got issues and I hate to admitt it but me and her mother spoiled her shamelessly." Guilt burned deep in Ed's stomach While Jillian was taking Delinda to Sax and Barney's Seajae was being toated from casino to cheap hotel. "I'll talk to her." He sat next to her. "Danny.....Danny's not fired. I just......Damn it....." Ed stood up and looked out the window. "I just can't stand seeing you hurting Seajae."

"Danny didn't hurt me Ed. Or Delinda. Whatever hurt me was thousands of miles from here. Something I can't remember." Danny wanted to console her. Tell her it was going to be alright. To tell her he knew what it felt like to be alone ."I just want to know what happened to me and find out why someone wants me to think my father was a horrible man." Ed sat next to her and took her in his arms.

"We'll figure it all out sweety. I promise." He hugged her tight. "I'm sorry I got so angry. I heard you two yelling in the elevator and something snapped. I'm sorry for the pain that your mother caused you. There wasn't another way back then. The woman always got the kids."

"Ed it's all in the past. My mother.....was my mother and I can't change that. And well my father....." Ed swollowed hard. If he told her now she would hate him. He knew that for sure. How could he explaine leaving her in that situation knowing he was her father and not Alan Riely.

"Well since I'm not fired I'm going to get back to work." Danny grabbed his stuff off the table. He wouldn't ask again what them sleeping together ment to her because is seemed it ment more to him then it did to her.

"I'll be down in a few minutes." Ed watched Danny go. "You going to be okay sweety?" Ed pushed her arms length away.

"For now." She smiled. "I'm going to try and get some sleep."

"If you need anything call." He hugged her one more time and then stood to leave. "And Seajae....don't be too hard on Danny. Sometimes he trys too hard."

"I'll keep that in mind. Good night Ed."

"Good night Seajae." She shut the door leaned agaist it and slid down to the floor. Things were getting to complicated. She was suppose to clear her father's name and head back to her life alone. Danny and Ed were making her feel things she didn't ever want to feel again.

Danny sat at the table with a file in front of him. It was a lot of buiness deals and buy outs of other companies. There was so much that ment nothing to him. Maybe he was in over his head. Scanning more sheets from the file in front of him Danny looked up when the door opened. Ed stood with a cup of coffee.

"You forgive me?"

"Nothing to forgive." Ed handed Danny the cup of coffee. He pushed back the chair and took a sip of the warm liquid. "How's Seajae?"

"Ok I guess. As good as she can be."

"The memories......she shouldn't be alone if thier coming back."

"That's why I'm taking over here and your going upstairs."

"Ed......."

"You have connection. I hate to say it but your her best bet when it comes to feeling safe when the memories return."

"All I know is if and when she remember who made her forget I may have to take some personal time to make them forget." Danny shut the folder he was reading and stood up.

"Stand in line." Ed looked at the man he treated like a son. He was falling hard for Seajae and he hoped either one of them would get hurt.

"Give me a call if you make anything of this mess."

"Okay." Danny headed back upstairs. Mary cought him in the hallway.

"You ok Danny?"

"Yeah. Just a little tired. I'm sorry about breakfast this morning."

"No biggy. How's Seajae?"

"Scared. Her dad has some things at his place that didn't make sence."

"I'm sorry about Delinda. She was out of line."

"We did decide it was best for us to just be friends? Right?"

"Yeah. You and I make great friends. Anything more would be insane." She looked at Danny. He looked like he was stressed. "Are you sure your ok?"

"Just a little tirered. We'll talk later ok. I want to tell you something and well I just want to be in a better state of mind to do it."

"That sound omnious."

"Nothing like that." He hugged her and kissed the top of her head. "We'll talk later." He waited till Mary was in the elevator and then went to Seajea's door. He knocked once before he used his master key to get into the room. Seajae was laying in the middle of the bed, curled in a ball. Her knife lay next to her. Danny wasn't sure what he should do. If he woke her she might take the knife and do some major damage. If he took the knife away.....Danny sat on the chair by the bed and watched her sleep. She was dreaming big time. Her eyes shifting under her lids. The hour of so they had slept earlier she clung to him in her sleep but she hadn't been dreaming. Danny closed his eyes and prayed this will all end soon.

Seajae's heart raced. She was all alone and she knew they would be coming for her soon. She had been alone for days and now she knew why. He was gone. They hadn't brought him back this time. She knew he was gone. Dead. He hadn't done anything but protect her from them. Now she had no one to protect her. She had been trained to protect herself but some thing told her she couldn't protect herself from what was coming. It was so dark. Billy knew she hated the dark and always talked her to sleep. Sleep would never come without his soothing words. The door openend and she froze reaching blindly for the rocks Billy had put near her just in case.....

"Seajae...wake up......Seajae......."

The voice cut though the fog. It wasn't Billy's voice....who knew her first name other then Billy. He would never give them more then name rank and serial number. No matter what they did to him. She grabbed for the rocks. They wern't going to touch her. Not if she could help it. She felt the pressure of someones hand around her wrist. Stuggling hard agaist the pressure she fought hard agaist her attacker.

"Seajae wake up. Baby you need to wake up...." Danny felt her strength pushing the knife closer to his ribs. He knew she had the training but even with seventy pounds on her she still fought like a man twice her size. "Seajae....." Her eyes flew open and a scream tore from her mouth.

"Billy!!!" She looked at Danny with cold eyes. He knew she wasn't quiet awake yet.

"Seajae....." His harsh tone snapped her out of whatever zone she was in and she looked at Danny.

"Danny?"

"Yeah. If I let your wrist go you promise not to put that thing between my ribs?"

"I promise." She wispered. He loosened his grip and she dropped her arm and let the knife fall to the bed. "I'm so sorry Danny."

"Tell me about the dream."

"Billy Savage. Gunnery Sgt. William Savage. He was the one who pulled me down when the caravan was ambushed. He was from some small town in Kentucky. We talked a little in the mess tent now and then and while we walked that day. He told me all he wanted was to get home to his horse ranch. He was afraid his neighbor wasn't doing a good job." Danny shifted and put the knife on the bedside table and laid next to her.

"What happened to Billy?"

"He just disappeared one night. They came for him and they never brought him back." Seajae looked at the celing fan. "He pulled me in a buliding out of the gun fire and the store was full of enemy soldiers. He wispered he was sorry. He was always apoligizing for something. Anyway they took us to an uderground camp. Everyother day they would take one of us and try to make us talk. Niether of us would give in." Seajae sat up and crossed her legs. "One day after they brought me back Billy noticed they tore my uniform near my chest. They tore off my placet. He knew I was unnurved. He also knew I was a......a virgin."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I want to. It might help." She stood and looked out at the lights. "I asked him......I asked him to make love to me before.....before they raped me."

"So you wern't......?"

"I don't think so." She sat on the chair and curled up and looked at Danny. "But that means the baby......the baby was Billy's." She bit her lower lip. "It goes blank about three days after they didn't bring Billy back. They took me to a room gave me a shower and then its blank again."

"Give it time. You remembered this much." Danny got up and kneeled down in front of her. I'm going to get Ed working on this. If Billy's body was broght back there must be a record of it. Someone had to claim the body."

"Wells....."

"What?"

"The name of his nieghbors who where taking care of the horse ranch. Micheal and Patty Wells." Danny smiled.

"See I know it would all come back sooner or later." He reached for the phone just as it started to ring. Danny picked it up. "McCoy."

"She sleeping?"

"No. She just woke up with some intersting things to say."

"Well why don't you both come down and we can exchange stories." Danny looked at Seajae. She was strung tight yet but she needed to get out of the room for a few minutes.

"Sounds good Ed. See you in a few minutes." Danny hung up. "He found something in your dad's files."

"Okay." Seajae grabbed a hair tie from the table and put it in her hair and changed from her jogging pants into the jeans sitting on the chair. Danny wondered if she knew what she was doing to him. Tucking in her over sized shirt he noticed it was his shirt. She knew what she was doing him alright. Driving him insane. "Let's go." He followed her out the door and to the elevator.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Are you going to stay here after we figure all this out?"

"I can't say either way right now." The elevator door opened. "But you'll be the first to know." Seajae and Danny got into the elevator and Danny pressed the first floor botton. He looked at Seajae.

"Please promise me you won't leave without saying good bye." She turned and looked at him.

"I promise when I decide to leave I'll say good bye."

"Thank you." The door opened and they both got out and headed to the holding room.

Ed sat at the table and rubbed his eyes. He was getting to old for this Looking up he saw Danny and Seajae coming in the room. He needed to focus on what he found not what was eating him up. Seajae looked more tired now then when he left her. His heart was breaking seeing what this was doing to her.

"I'd ask if you got any sleep but I can see you didn't."

"Just flash backs and blackness."

"What did you remember?"

"The man who was taken prisioner with me." She sat across from Ed. "Gunnery Sgt. William Savage." Ed wrote it down. "I....I think he was the father of my baby." She looked down not wanting to see the disappointment in his eyes. He stood and came around the table and knelt in front of her.

"That means you wern't raped." He lifted her chin, "Sweety you have nothing to be ashamed of." She knew Ed was right. But there was something deep down that was making her feel so damned uneasy. Maybe it was because now she knew there was a baby out there that was part her and part Billy.

"I know." She looked at Ed. "I just feel so....I don't know. I just wish I could of saved Billy."

"I know. But he died for his country." Ed looked at Danny and then back at Seajae. "You need rest. I'll call the casino doctor and get you something ."

"I don't think drugging me up is going to do me any good."

"You need some rest. Have you had a full nights sleep since you left the hospital. "He stroked her hand and looked, noticing a nasty bruise forming around it. "What the hell happened to you?" Seajae looked at Danny and then at Ed.

"I went after Danny with my knife. He did it to save himself." She rubbed the raw skin on her wrist. "I thought he was....one of them."

"Is that all you remeber?"

"Yeah so far. What did you find?" Ed looked at Seajae. He wasn't sure he wanted to tell her what he found.

"Your father was set up. None of these companies are real. The money is counterfit. Whoever was setting him up just wanted you to find it and run."

"Apparently they don't know me." Seajae looked at the stack of papers. "None of you knew I was missing for all that time did you?"

"No. I'm looking into that little matter also."

"I.....I have a child somewhere and I don't even know if it was a girl or a boy. My father and you had no idea I was a POW for almost a year and I can't even remember what the hell happened to me in that time. Who doesn't want me to remember Ed. What did I see or do that made this mess escalate to this?" She was shaking. Ed sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms. Danny stood up and went to get the doctor. Niether of them could stand seeing her this way. She was walking a thin line....one that they both knew is she stepped over she'd loose whatever sanity she had left.

"It's all going to be ok sweety. I swear."- Ed didn't know what to do. It had been a long time since he felt helpless. He wanted to help her. Wanted it all to be alright for her.


End file.
